Blackouts could have been worse, says Escom

Electricity Supply Corporation of Malawi (Escom) chief executive officer Kamkwamba Kumwenda says power outages Malawians are facing could have been worse without demand side measures they have been implementing.

He said this yesterday in Blantyre during a meeting between Escom and the private sector on implementation of the Advanced LED Tube Lighting project.

Kumwenda said: “Growth in demand for electricity has not been matched by a corresponding increase in capacity due to high population growth and under-investment in generation.

“Escom is currently forced to load shed a daily average of around 80MW [megawatts]. The situation could have been worse had Escom not proactively implemented demand side measures.”

The project is part of Escom’s demand side measure for commercial and industrial customers to reduce electricity consumption and freeing some of the capacity for other customers to benefit and reduce load shedding.

It primarily focuses on the replacement of inefficient fluorescent tubes with more energy-efficient LED tubes for industry and all government buildings and is targeting the replacement of 415 000 fluorescent tubes to save over 9.3MW.

Malawi is facing unprecedented blackouts which in the previous year worsened following the loss of 129 megawatts (MW) in the aftermath of Tropical Storm Ana in January 2022.

But towards December 2022, the country has witnessed an improved supply following a reduction in the load shedding hours.

According to Kumwenda, Escom’s other demand side measures include discount offers to industrial customers for shifting power usage from on-peak times to off-peak hours through negotiated time-of-use tariff agreements.

He said through the implementation of such an arrangement, Escom is currently saving over 23MW on-peak power.

In a separate interview, Minister of Energy Ibrahim Matola hailed Escom for implementing the demand side measures pointing out that a stable supply of electricity is key in any economy.

He said: “For that, we need to find ways; a new technology of saving the little energy that we have.”

The meeting yesterday marked the start of regional sensitisation meetings between industrial and commercial customers as regards the implementation of the project.

A similar meeting is expected to be held today in Lilongwe and will be held in Mzuzu on Friday.